A best practice is a technique, method, process, activity, incentive, or reward that is believed to be more effective at delivering a particular outcome than any other technique, method, process, etc. when applied to a particular condition or circumstance. The idea is that with proper processes, checks, and testing, a [...]
Time is money. This axiom never truer than during rocky financial periods when the pressure to produce swift revenue results from any investment intensifies. In boom years and recessions alike, IT is expected to facilitate business efficiencies and innovations that yield significant cost reductions and increase profits. But during a downturn, many companies tighten or [...]
6 Sigma is a quality management program to achieve “6 sigma” levels of quality.
6 Sigma is a highly disciplined process that helps to focus on developing and delivering near-perfect products and services.
Why “Sigma”? The word is a statistical term that measures how far a given process deviates from perfection. The central idea behind 6 Sigma [...]
Substance, Not Hype
Defenders say the current downturn, far from denting 6 Sigma reputation, is enhancing it.
While they acknowledge 6 Sigma did not help them predict and avoid the downturn, they insist no one ever claimed it would.
“You’re dealing with a global economic problem that is a one-in-80-year event,” Keith Sherin, GE’s CFO, told to [...]
6 Sigma Mystique Takes Beating In Downturn
‘SICK SIGMA’
It has always been easy to ridicule 6 Sigma. The name — given by Motorola (NYSE: MOT) Inc, which codified 6 Sigma in the 1980s and trademarked it — is a statistical term, meaningless to lay ears and yet vaguely sinister, perhaps conjuring thoughts of a certain medical [...]
Developed in the 1950s by Japanese companies like Toyota under the tutelage of U.S. Quality guru W. Edwards Deming, the practices now referred to as 6 Sigma were originally just a way of reducing waste and cost on the factory floor, while improving quality, delivery and services.
In the 1970s, U.S. manufacturers began adopting it in [...]
